Editing Samuel Bailey

{{Short description|British philosopher, economist and writer}}
{{Other people|Sam Bailey}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox philosopher |
region          = Western Philosophy |
era             = [[19th-century philosophy]] |
image = |
caption = |
name             = Samuel Bailey |
|birth_date      = {{birth date|1791|7|5|df=y}}
|birth_place     = [[Dunstable]], England
|death_date      = {{death date and age|1870|1|18|1791|7|5|df=y}}
|death_place     = [[Sheffield]], England |
school_tradition = [[Utilitarianism]], [[classical liberalism]] |
main_interests   = Economics, [[political philosophy]], [[inductive reasoning|inductive logic]] |
influences       = |
influenced       = |
notable_ideas    = |
}}

'''Samuel Bailey''' (5 July 1791 – 18 January 1870) was a British philosopher, economist and writer. He was called the "[[Jeremy Bentham|Bentham]] of [[Hallamshire]]".<ref>Elliott, Ebenezer. ''The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott''. 2 volumes. London: King & Co., 1876. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qldep5fhhuwC&pg=PA127 vol. 1, p. 127].</ref>

==Life==
Bailey was born at [[Sheffield]] on 5 July 1791, the son of Joseph Bailey and Mary Eadon. His father was among the first of those Sheffield [[merchant]]s who went to the United States to establish trade connections. After a few years in his father's business, he retired from all business concerns with an ample fortune, although he remained connected with the Sheffield Banking Company, of which he was a founder in 1831 and served as [[Chair (official)|chairman]] for many years.<ref name="EWFB">{{cite book|last=White|first=Lawrence|title=Free Banking in Britain|url=https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/upldbook115pdf.pdf|edition=2nd|year=1995|publisher=Institute of Economic Affairs|isbn=9780255363754}}</ref>{{rp|78}} Although an ardent liberal, he took little part in political affairs. On two occasions, he stood for Sheffield as a "[[Radicals (UK)|philosophic radical]]" parliamentary candidate, but without success.

His life is for the most part a history of his numerous and varied publications. He died suddenly on 18 January 1870, leaving over £80,000 to the town [[trustee]]s of Sheffield for public use.

==Thought==
[[File:Bailey Essays1821.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Title page: ''Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions'' 1st ed. (1821)]]
[[File:Bailey - Critical dissertation on the nature, measures, and causes of value, 1931 - 5784078.tif |thumb|''Critical dissertation on the nature, measures, and causes of value'', 1931]]
His first work, ''Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions'', published anonymously in 1821, attracted more attention than any of his other writings. A sequel to it appeared in 1829, ''Essays on the Pursuit of Truth''. Between these two were ''Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, &c.'' (1823), and a ''Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measure, and Causes of Value'' (1825), directed against the opinions of [[David Ricardo]] and his school.

His next publications also were on economic or political subjects, ''Rationale of Political Representation'' (1835), and ''Money and its Vicissitudes'' (1837) and he has been regarded as one of the main theorists of [[Free banking]].<ref name="EWFB">{{cite book|last=White|first=Lawrence|title=Free Banking in Britain|url=https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/upldbook115pdf.pdf|edition=2nd|year=1995|publisher=Institute of Economic Affairs|isbn=9780255363754}}</ref>{{rp|79}} About the same time, there also appeared some of his [[pamphlet]]s, ''Discussion of Parliamentary Reform'', ''Right of Primogeniture Examined'', ''Defence of Joint-Stock Banks''. In 1842 appeared his ''Review of [[George Berkeley|Berkeley]]'s Theory of Vision'' which called forth rejoinders from [[John Stuart Mill]] in the ''[[Westminster Review]]''<ref>Mill's review appeared in the October 1842 issue of the ''Westminster Review''. It was reprinted in his ''Dissertations and Discussions'' (1859), [https://books.google.com/books?id=RqCrvijeeUQC&pg=PA84 vol. 2, pp. 84–119].</ref> and from [[James Frederick Ferrier]] in ''[[Blackwood's Magazine]]''.<ref>Ferrier's review appeared in the June 1842 issue of ''Blackwood's Magazine''. It was reprinted in his ''Lectures on Greek Philosophy and Other Philosophical Remains'' (1866), [https://archive.org/details/lecturesongreek02ferrgoog vol. 2, pp. 291–347].</ref> Bailey replied to his critics in a ''Letter to a Philosopher'' (1843), &c.

In 1851 he published ''Theory of Reasoning'', a discussion of the nature of [[inference]], and an able criticism of the functions and value of the [[syllogism]]. In 1852 he published ''Discourses on Various Subjects''; and finally summed up his philosophic views in the ''Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind'' (three series, 1855, 1858, 1863). The ''Letters'' contain a discussion of many of the principal problems in [[psychology]] and ethics. Bailey can hardly be classed as belonging either to the strictly [[Empiricism|empirical]] or to the [[Idealism|idealist]] school, but his general tendency is towards the former.

In regard to method, he founds [[psychology]] entirely on [[introspection]]. He thus, to a certain extent, agrees with the [[Scottish School of Common Sense|Scottish School]], but he differs from them in rejecting altogether the doctrine of [[Mind|mental faculties]]. What have been designated faculties are, upon his view, merely classified facts or phenomena of [[consciousness]]. He criticizes very severely the habitual use of [[metaphor]]ical language in describing mental operations.

His doctrine of [[perception]], which is, in brief, that "the perception of external things through the organs of sense is a direct mental act or phenomenon of consciousness not susceptible of being resolved into anything else,"<ref>Bain, Alexander.''The Senses and the Intellect''. London: Parker & Son, 1855. [https://archive.org/details/sensesandintell00baingoog Page 370]</ref> and the reality of which can be neither proved nor disproved, is not worked out in detail, but is supported by elaborate and sometimes subtle criticisms of all other theories. With regard to general and abstract [[idea]]s and general [[proposition]]s, his opinions are those of the [[Empiricism|empirical school]], but his analysis frequently puts the matter in a new light.

In the theory of [[Morality|morals]], Bailey is an advocate of [[utilitarianism]] (though he objects to the term "utility" as being narrow and, to the unthinking, of sordid content), and works out with great skill the steps in the formation of the "complex" [[mental fact]]s involved in the recognition of [[duty]], [[moral obligation|obligation]], right.

He bases all moral phenomena on five facts:
* Man is susceptible to [[pleasure]] (and [[pain]]);
* he likes (or dislikes) their causes;
* he desires to reciprocate pleasure and pain received;
* he expects such reciprocation from others;
* he feels more or less sympathy with the same feelings in his fellows (cf. ''Letters'', 3rd series).

In 1845 he published ''Maro'' a poem in four [[canto]]s (85 pp., Longmans), containing a description of a young poet who printed 1000 copies of his first poem, of which only 10 were sold. He was a diligent student of [[Shakespeare]], and his last literary work was ''On the Received Text of Shakespeare's Dramatic Writings and its Improvement'' (1862).

==Works==
* ''Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions'' (1821). [https://archive.org/details/essaysonformati02bailgoog Google (NYPL)] [https://archive.org/details/essaysonformatio00bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
**<small>2nd edition</small>, 1826. [https://archive.org/details/essaysonformatio00bailiala IA (UCal)] Philadelphia, 1831. [https://archive.org/details/essaysonformatio00bailrich IA (UCal)]
**<small>3rd edition</small>, 1837. [https://archive.org/details/essaysonformati01bailgoog Google (NYPL)] [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PfjrMnW0iEUC Google (UMich)] Boston, 1854. [https://archive.org/details/essaysonformati00bailgoog Google (NYPL)] [https://archive.org/details/formationopinions0bailrich IA (UCal)]
* ''Questions in Political Economy, Politics, Morals, Metaphysics, &c.'' (1823). [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Dt8kAAAAMAAJ Google (NYPL)] [https://archive.org/details/questionsinpolit00bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
* ''A Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measures, and Causes of Value'' (1825). [https://archive.org/details/acriticaldisser00baigoog Google (Harvard)]
* ''A Letter to a Political Economist'' (1826). [Pamphlet, 101 pp.] [https://archive.org/details/alettertoapolit00revigoog Google (Oxford)] [https://archive.org/details/alettertoapolit00bailgoog Google (UCal)] [https://archive.org/details/lettertopolitica00bailrich IA (UCal)] [https://archive.org/details/lettertopolitica00bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
* ''Essays on the Pursuit of Truth, &c.'' (1829). [https://archive.org/details/essaysonpursuit02bailgoog Google (Harvard)] [https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx7XBbDkxCkC Google (Oxford)] Philadelphia, 1831. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1AsOAAAAYAAJ Google (Harvard)]
**<small>2nd edition</small>, 1844. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1eQDAAAAQAAJ Google (Oxford)] [https://archive.org/details/essaysonpursuito00bailiala IA (UCal)]
* ''Discussion of Parliamentary Reform'' (1831). [Pamphlet, 55 pp.]
* ''The Rationale of Political Representation'' (1835). [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TnUSAAAAIAAJ Google (NYPL)] [https://archive.org/details/rationalepoliti00bailgoog Google (Oxford)] [https://archive.org/details/rationaleofpolit00bailuoft Google (Stanford)] [https://archive.org/details/rationaleofpolit00bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
* ''Right of Primogeniture Examined'' (1837). [Pamphlet, 60 pp.]
* ''Money and Its Vicissitudes in Value'' (1837). [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HchHAAAAIAAJ Google (UCal)] [https://archive.org/details/moneyitsvicissit00bailrich IA (UCal)]
* ''Defence of Joint-Stock Banks'' (1840). [Pamphlet, 100 pp.]
* ''A Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision'' (1842). [https://archive.org/details/areviewberkeley01bailgoog Google (Harvard)] [https://archive.org/details/areviewberkeley00bailgoog Google (UMich)]
* ''Letter to a Philosopher in Reply to Some Recent Attempts to Vindicate &c.'' (1843). [Pamphlet, 68 pp.]
* ''Maro; or, Poetic irritability'' (1845). [https://books.google.com/books?id=WQ4EAAAAQAAJ Google (Oxford)]
* ''The Theory of Reasoning'' (1851). [https://archive.org/details/theoryreasoning02bailgoog Google (UCal)] [https://archive.org/details/theoryofreasonin00bailrich IA (UCal)] 2nd ed., 1852. [https://archive.org/details/TheTheoryOfReasoning Internet Archive]
* ''Discourses on Various Subjects'' (1852). [https://archive.org/details/discoursesonvar00bailgoog Google (Harvard)] [https://archive.org/details/discoursesonvar01bailgoog Google (Oxford)] [https://archive.org/details/discoursesonvar00bailgoog Google (UMich)]
* ''Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind'' (1855–1863).
** First series, 1855. [https://archive.org/details/lettersonphilos01bailgoog Google (Harvard)] [https://archive.org/details/lettersonphilos00goog Google (NYPL)] [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_KDUCAAAAQAAJ Google (Oxford)] [https://archive.org/details/lettersonphiloso01bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
** Second series, 1858. [https://archive.org/details/lettersonphilos02bailgoog Google (NYPL)] [https://archive.org/details/lettersonphiloso02bailiala IA (UCal)] [https://archive.org/details/lettersonphiloso02bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
** Third series, 1863. [https://archive.org/details/lettersonphiloso00bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
* ''On the received text of Shakespeare's dramatic writings and its Improvement'' (1862–1866). 2 volumes.
**<small>Volume 1</small>, 1862. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z0NAAAAQAAJ Google (Oxford)] [https://archive.org/details/onreceivedtextof00bailuoft IA (UToronto)]
**<small>Volume 2</small>, 1866. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_p0NAAAAQAAJ Google (Oxford)]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Bailey, Samuel}}

==External links==
*{{cite web|url=http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/268|title=Papers of Samuel Bailey|publisher=University of Edinburgh|accessdate=21 March 2017}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname= Samuel Bailey}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Samuel}}
[[Category:1791 births]]
[[Category:1870 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century British philosophers]]
[[Category:19th-century English philosophers]]
[[Category:English economists]]
[[Category:English political writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Sheffield]]